"Okay people, settle down," the booming voice of Symon washed across them all. Xan, Liz and Antonio arrived at the river bank where the Guardians from the camp had gathered. "We have our plan to stick to; following this river north for a few hours and get to the Main stronghold." There were mutterings from the crowd as they started to follow the river north. Xan, Antonio and Liz remained at the back of the group, looking out for any stragglers or surprise attacks.
"I swear the attacks are getting closer and closer to the stronghold of Indigo," Liz said worried. Ninetales picked up on her worried feelings and nuzzled her gently.
"The Indigo Stronghold is one of the most well defended strongholds we have control over," Antonio said, his Pikachu resting on his shoulder, "We're going to be in the safest place for guardians, and if the New World Council attacks, we always have the Shrines to fall back to in the other Regions."
"But what if they all disappear too?" Liz said, starting to sound tearful, "Look at the facts Antonio; the raids on our camps have been getting more and more frequent. We are losing more and more ground, and slowly being backed into a corner. I remember when we used to control about fifty strongholds in Kanto, and now look. We are down to five strongholds, just five! And they are at the very edge of the region!"
"Yeah, but we still have the other regions to escape to," Antonio began, but Liz cut across him.
"Haven't you been listening to the news coming in at all?" She hissed, "We're losing ground everywhere! The Shrines are the only strong holds we have left in Hoenn, and in Sinnoh they are only just keeping the New World Council out of the Mountains."
"Look," Xan sighed, "Can we just focus at one thing at a time? We'll deal with an attack on the stronghold and the escape plan when it's actually under attack, but for now, we need to actually get there." Lucario and Infernape were either side of Xan and both rolled their eyes.
"Xan does have a point," Antonio said, giving Liz a playful push on the arm, "You need to lighten up."
"No, you need to face the truth of the matter," Liz retorted, giving him a light push back. Xan wondered how Antonio was going to take this. With Antonio always being the Optimistic one but serious and seeing aggression in everything, and Liz the Pessimistic yet light hearted and comforting, arguments were never too far away. Xan had resorted to being the peace keeper, and only intervening when things began to get out of hand. Xan rolled his eyes and focused on the group of fifty Aura Guardians moving ahead of them, toward the Indigo Stronghold at the entrance to the Silver Mountain Range Valley.
Liz and Antonio continued their argument for a good hour, standing either side of Xan. Xan just hung his head on kept on walking, thinking about what Liz had said. True, the Aura Guardians had been losing a lot of territory recently due to the increase on raids on camps, but that was to expected, with the number of years since the Guerrilla campaign had been in operation, they were bound to narrow down the areas with a camps in them. The trick now was to keep moving, but the Aura Council in all their wisdom were taking their time with the decision of the next phase of the campaign.
"Hey," Xan voiced suddenly, causing Liz and Antonio to stop their argument which had resorted to a barrage of do not's and do too's, "When is the next Aura Council Meeting?"
"Not for another few months," Liz replied, "Why?"
"Well, if we pass this exam, Don't we have to go to it so the Council can give us our official Cult postings?"
"Wow," Antonio said, slapping his fore-head, "I'd forgotten about that,"
"Like you forget a lot of things," Liz muttered under her breath. Antonio gave her a hard, cold stare and Xan just rolled his eyes. Sure they were all friends, but this bickering had become worse over the past year.
"Says the woman who forgot where the river was," Antonio shot back at her. Xan quickly put his hands up between the two and activated an Aura shield in both palms, preventing the two from passing through and attacking each other.
"Will you two calm down!" Xan said, giving a cold stare to both of them with his Ice blue eyes, causing both of them to shrink back slightly, "I do not what to have to have this shield up the rest of the way, or I'll get Lucario and Infernape to kick you butts back to the old camp!"
Liz and Antonio shot each other cold stares, but didn't argue any more. Xan let the shields go down and kept on walking. They continued in silence, except for the chatter from the group of fifty people ahead of them, and the river flowing next to them. The rounded a corner and saw the mountain range ahead of them, the mountains starting to tower over them. At the point where the River flowed into the mountains there was an old worn down fort, with the outer walls collapsing. It was build right on the river, with a cullies gate built over the river itself.
"This is the great stronghold?" Antonio said, eyebrow raised, "I always thought it would be like the main fort at Saffron City, like all large and made of Marble."
"Well, that would be too obvious," Liz said, rolling her eyes, "If you notice what's on the mountain behind the fort, then you might get to know why it is a strong hold."
Xan and Antonio looked up at the mountain. It looked like any other Mountain there, apart from this one had a single feature the others didn't at the base of it; A cave entrance.
"So we're going to be living in caves now?" Xan asked, raising an eyebrow at Antonio. Antonio shuddered slightly, and his Pikachu gave him a confused look.
"Only until the Aura Council decides where out next camp should be," Liz sighed, "So for the next few months we'll be living here."
"Oh woopie," Antonio said, his voice heavy with sarcasm.
"Then why are we heading to the old Fort?" Xan asked,
"Because that's the only way in," Liz sighed, "Didn't you two pay any attention during theory?"
"Nope," Xan said proudly, "I learnt absolute Nada from it."
"I'm surprised Symon let you take the exam then," A voice said from behind them. The three spun around to see Aqua, Arthur and Alexander standing behind them. They all had their hoods of their black cloaks down, showing their face features.
Aqua had sky blue hair all the way down to her shoulders, which curled out slightly at the bottom, showing her elfish face and deep green eyes. She had silvery chest plate with silver knee and elbow protection over her bare skin, wearing a dark blue tank top and shorts.
Arthur was a towering man of 6"6' with a muscular body, with long brown hair pulled back and growing down. His face was covered in scars of battles past, and he carried his Claymore Sword on his back. He had his arms crossed over his chest, which had only a tight black short sleeved shirt on it, his legs covered with some baggy Brown trousers. His bulk frame seemed to cause fear in everyone.
Alexander was of a smaller build in height and muscle, but was still rather well toned, with his short Blonde hair and grey-blue eyes, he had the build of a speedy athletic, and wore a Navy Blue top with hood, along with black trousers.
"We heard your arguing from the old camp above the commotion," Arthur grunted in a deep, gravelly voice, "And we thought it was you three."
"Sorry Sir," Liz, Antonio and Xan replied.
"Never mind that," Alexander said, waving the subject away, "We're here to talk about your exam. We have discussed it amongst ourselves, and have decided that with the way you controlled the situation and held your ground against the New World Council Soldiers, we are happy to recommend you to all become Guardians." He said with a smile.
"Told you," Liz muttered to Xan, but Xan was too busy smiling and living in the moment to hear. Finally, they were going to be Aura guardians.
"However," Aqua said in a tone that brought him back down to earth, "There is one small bone we would like to pick with you. When you are given Orders from Superiors, you follow them out there and then. You do not question them, is that understood people?" Antonio, Xan and Liz all nodded their heads.
"Alright, the rest shall be discussed later amongst the Council," Arthur said in his deep voice, "You three better get some sleep after settling the others down."
"Yes sir," The three teenagers said, and they ran off toward the cave entrance.
Once they were out of earshot, the Alpha Cult turned to each other.
"So, I'm guessing the signs were telling the truth," Aqua said quietly, "Those are the Chosen three."
"But they're just kids," Arthur growled, cracking his knuckles, "Why couldn't it be us who were chosen?"
"I have no idea," Aqua replied, watching the three teens chatter to the other Aura guardians, "But the council will make the right decision."
"They're going to split them apart," Alexander said in a dark tone, his head bowed, "It's so they have time to make sure they're loyal to the code before they unlock their power and use to push out the New World Council. It's not going to be pretty their Auras are too intermingled already."
"Let's just hope they're up for it when the time comes," Arthur growled.
"For the moment, hope is the only thing we have," Aqua muttered quietly.